Pages

About Me

loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Sunday, August 10, 2014

steinlen offers up a smiling cat

thanks wikipaintings.org. (PD)

Theophile Steinlen (Swiss, worked in France; 1859-1923) made a name for himself in French Art Nouveau illustrations and advertising. You've definitely seen his posters; people still reproduce them (here's proof - I know you've seen at least one of these). Cats played a large part in his work. They lend themselves perfectly to the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau; they play off well against women, who were also a major subject for Art Nouveau mass imagery; and besides he simply appreciated them for themselves, as you can tell from this ink sketch of a Smiling Cat. This fellow's chunkier and scrappier than those in Steinlen's commercial work, and I like him all the better for it.